Confidence
by probieprincess
Summary: Sequel to SkyeHigh...Skye is adjusting to living with Ziva, and her best friends Liz and Ty and her big sis Ziva come up with an idea to help her get her confidence back after escaping from Ethan.
1. Chapter 1

**A/n ok, ladies and gents, here is the first sequel to my story SkyeHigh! If you have not read that yet, I highly recommend that you go and read it first so that you understand this one. If you don't, this is about Ziva's 14-year-old half-sister Skylar, aka Skye. She was abused by her stepfather (she's Eli's youngest daughter) after watching him murder her mother (her mother is not related to Ziva) and went to live with Ziva. Anyway, this is basically Skye adjusting to living with Ziva and trying to get her confidence back. How? You'll see.**

"So, where should I put this?" Ziva asked pulling out a string of paper cranes from a box. They were in Ziva's guest room, working on converting it into a bedroom for Skye. Skye turned around.

"Oh, those? Hold on a sec, I'll be right back." She walked out of the room. Ziva looked around. A lot had changed in the last few days. She did something to save someone every day, but this was different. She'd had to save her own sister. A sister she had never known existed, but still. Her _sister_. Her only living sibling. Somehow, for some reason, Eli had easily given up custody of Skylar to Ziva. So that's why they were converting the guest room in her apartment to a bedroom.

"I'm back," Skye said, walking in, carrying a chair. They already had a chair in there from hanging up Skye's Rascal Flatts poster. She moved it next to the wall, and moved the other chair over to the other wall. She took one end of the string and walked over and taped it to the ceiling. Ziva did the same.

She walked over to the box. The only things left were a picture of her and her mom, and a picture of her and her best friend Liz. Right about then, Ziva's phone rang. She answered it and left the room.

"David," Ziva said.

"_Miss, David? I wanna talk to you. About Skye."_

"Liz? Sure. What do you want to talk about?"

"_Well, she hasn't exactly been the same after Mrs. Davidson died. She's a lot quieter now. Like, before her mom died, she was the most confident person out of the three of us."_

"Three?"

"_Yeah, me, her, and Ty. We met Ty in third grade, and he's basically our third half. But that's not important. Anyway, she used to volunteer every year to sing in the talent show. Usually with Ty and me. But this year she didn't."_

"What do you want me to do?"

"_Make sure she shows up to the talent show on Friday. That's all you gotta do."_

"Ok. Is there anything else?"

"_If there's anyone else you want to see this, then tell them. Bye."_

"Bye, Liz."

She closed her phone and walked back into the room. Skye looked up from the Sugarland poster she was hanging.

"Who was that?" she asked

"Liz. She just wanted to make sure you were coming on Friday."

"I wouldn't miss it. Liz is my best friend," Skye said. She smiled.

"Well, I guess we are done, are we not?" Ziva said.

"Huh. Finally," she said, looking around.


	2. Chapter 2

"_We're gonna rock this thang, cock this thang!" _Skye was singing along to the radio in the car on the way to school. This was on Thursday, the day before the talent show. Skylar didn't know it, but Ziva was going to meet Liz and Ty after school to discuss the plan for what was going to happen while Skye was at volleyball practice. Ziva leaned over and turned down the radio.

"What?" Skye asked.

"We are here." She looked out the window, and sure enough, they were in front of the school. Skye grabbed her backpack and climbed out of Ziva's car. Ziva was about to drive away when she heard a knock on the window. She rolled it down.

"After work, could you please go to the DMV? Please?" Skye asked through the rolled-down window.

"Why do you want me to do that?"

"Take some driving lessons. You drive like a maniac." Ziva rolled her eyes.

"Goodbye, Skylar. I will pick you up after you get out of volleyball."

"Oh, speaking of which," Skye said, opening the trunk and grabbing her volleyball bag.

"Bye, Skye," Ziva said.

"Hey, that rhymes! Later, Ziva." Ziva laughed, and drove away.

_Inside the school_

"Hey, Skye. You weren't on the bus this morning, I thought you were sick." Tyler said. He had known Skye and Liz since third grade, and they had all three had a perfect attendance record. Well, Liz did.

"You should talk. Where were you yesterday?" Skye asked him.

"Sick. Where were you two days ago?" Ty replied. Skye and Liz looked at each other.

"Do you wanna tell him?" Skye asked Liz.

"It's your story," Liz said.

"I know, but, I kinda don't wanna talk about it."

"Yeah, ok. Ty, come with me. We need to talk." Liz said, and they walked toward that space behind the stairs. Meanwhile, finished getting her books out of her locker and walked toward the English room.

_Behind the stairs_

"So, what's wrong, Liz?" Ty asked.

"You know her mom died eight months ago?"

"Yeah."

"Her stepdad's kinda been beating up on her since then," Liz whispered.

"Oh, my go-wait, did you say _step_dad?"

"Oh, crud. I forgot to tell you. Ethan's not really her dad. I don't know who her real dad is. All I know is that she found her biological sister, and went to live with her."

"Oh. Is that why she's been kinda upset?" Ty asked.

"Pretty much," Liz said, and then they walked to their first class, Liz to English, and Ty to Algebra.

_After School_

"_Crank op the band, play the steel guitar"_ That was Skye's ringtone for Ty. She picked it up before it could reach the second line.

"Hey, Ty," she said.

"_Hey, Skye. I just wanted to tell you sorry."_

"For what?"

"_About your mom. I know you two were really close."_

"You've known that she was dead for eight months."

"_I know. But I just found out about Ethan."_ Skye stopped short when she heard her former stepfather's name.

"Don't say that name again," she said abruptly, in a tone that said she meant it.

"_Oh. Sorry, Skye. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."_

"It's ok," she said, then closed her phone, and walked to the gym for volleyball practice.

_The School Auditorium_

"Ok, what is my role in all of this?"

"Just make sure Skye comes to the show."

"Then why am I here right now?"

"Beats me. All I know is that you're here."

"You are extremely helpful," Ziva told Skye's friends sarcastically.

"Well, all we're doing is rehearsing the music. Instead of singing along karaoke-style, we're gonna play the background music. That's how we always did the talent show. You know, before it happened," Liz said. Ziva nodded in understanding.

"What was Skylar like? You know, before everything happened?" Ziva asked. Liz thought for a few minutes, then talked.

"Well, we've known each other since kindergarten, so I practically know her better than my little sister. Actually, I've known her longer than my sister, but that's not important. Anyway, Skye was always the more outgoing one. Always volunteered first, always performed every chance she got. She was always talking, and had something to say about everything. When we met in kindergarten, I was new to the school and the first thing I noticed was the Skye, walking up to me and introducing herself. I remember the teacher asking her what she wanted to be when she grew up, her exact words were 'I wanna be a singer and play the Grand Ole Opry!' and she never really let go of that dream. She also knows how to play practically every musical instrument in existence, and always listens to the country station in the car. All this up until her mom died. I guess I'm doing this because I want the old Skye back," Liz explained.

"I will help you in every way possible," Ziva said.


	3. Chapter 3

"Heads!" Ziva heard the cry all too familiar to people involved in volleyball. But, since this was only the second time she'd been to a volleyball practice, she didn't understand what it meant. At least she understood what she heard next.

"Ziva look out!" Skye yelled. Ziva stepped out of the way, just barely avoiding being hit. Skye walked over to her, practically doubled over laughing. "Oh my gosh, Ziva, I'm so sorry. But you gotta admit that was funny," Skye said, taking the ball.

"If you say so, Skye." Ziva said. Skye took the ball and served it, and then went back to the game. Ziva walked over to the bleachers and sat down. She checked her watch. About 10 minutes left until Skye's practice ended. A few of the other girls' parents started to show up, and sat down around her. Finally, the coach blew her whistle and told the girls to go change. Skye came out of the locker room, and they went home. Later on, Ziva was sitting in the living room, and Skye was sitting on the couch listening to her iPod and reading a book. Finally, she put the book down and took out one headphone.

"Ziva. What's your favorite song?" she asked.

"I do not know. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know. Some reason or another, I guess," Skye said. She started changing the song on her iPod, listened for a little bit, then got up and walked over to Ziva. She put the earbud in Ziva's ear, and let her listen.

_I will stand back up.  
You'll know just the moment when I've had enough.  
Sometimes I'm afraid and I don't feel that tough_.  
_But I'll stand back up._

"That's my favorite song," Skye said, then added, "actually I have two. My other favorite is 'Stand' by Rascal Flatts. Some of the kids at school think I'm a nutcase, for listening to, like, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, and stuff like that. I've never been able to listen to pop for more than 30 seconds at a time." Finally. Ziva spoke up about something that she had been wondering about since she had talked to Liz earlier.

"Skye, can you sing?"

"I don't know. I haven't since…" she dropped off, and Ziva understood. Skye still couldn't talk about it. Ziva thought about how she herself had been after Somalia. She still couldn't talk about it, and when she did, she didn't say much and quickly changed the subject.

"I think you should try. Liz told me that you used to want to sing at the Grand Ole Opry, whatever that is."

"It's the world's longest running radio show. In country music, it's an honor to even play there, let alone be a member. Everyone who's anyone in country has played there. What do you want me to sing?" Skye said.

"How about the one you had me listen to a few minutes ago?"

"Sure," Skye said. She unplugged her headphones, and walked over to plug her iPod into the speakers.

"_Go ahead and take your best shot, let'er rip, give it all you've got I'm laid out on the floor, but I've been here before"_ Skye sang along karaoke style.

**A/n sorry about the wait, I just couldn't figure out how to get this out, and had MASSIVE writer's block… luckily, I have the next two chapters and the first two or three of the next sequel all planned out, so I might update sooner! Btw, the song in this chapter is "Stand Back Up" by Sugarland. I had this song on repeat while I was writing this, and I think it fits Skylar perfectly. What did you think? The next two chapters are kind of songfics, because that's how I planned it all along. **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/n grrr, Mom, for taking my laptop. The desktop is frighteningly slow. Anyway, here it is, THE TALENT SHOW! **

Skye stood in the auditorium, waiting for the show to start, when her cell rang. Ziva knew what was going on, this was part of the plan Liz and Ty had put together. She watched as Skye answered it.

"_Skye, can you come backstage?" _Ty asked over the phone. The plan was to have Liz fake stage fright and make Skye go in her place. Skye hung up the phone.

"I have to go talk to Liz. She got stage fright," Skye said, and walked off.

_Backstage_

"Skye, I can't do this," Liz said.

"Of course you can, Liz," Skye said.

"No, Skye, I can't. You are a way better singer than I am. Please, can you do this?"

"Liz," she said, and stopped to think. Why couldn't she? Maybe she could, just to prove to herself she still could. She looked Liz in the eye. "You got my guitar?" Liz smiled.

"Thanks, Skye." Skye took the acoustic guitar from the corner, and started to tune it. She looked up.

"I think I know what song I want to do."

_Onstage_

Skye waked out onto the stage, and took her position behind the microphone in the center. She looked out into the audience. Had the auditorium always bee this big? She heard her friends begin to play the introduction, and began to sing the part.

_I will not make the same mistakes that you did.  
I will not let myself cause my heart so much misery.  
I will not break the way you did, you fell so hard.  
I've learned the hard way to never let it get that far_

_Because of you I never stray too far from the sidewalk  
because of you I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt  
because of you I find it hard to trust  
not only me, but everyone around me  
Because of you  
I am afraid_

_I lose my way,  
and it's not too long before you point it out  
I cannot cry,  
because I know that's weakness in your eyes.  
I'm forced to fake a smile, a laugh, every day of my life.  
My heart can't possibly when it wasn't even holding to start with_

_Because of I never stray too far from the sidewalk  
because of you I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt  
because of you I find it hard it hard to trust  
not only me, but everyone around me  
because of you  
I am afraid_

_I watched you die, I heard you cry every night in your sleep  
I was so young you should have known better than to lean on me  
you never thought of anyone else you just saw your pain  
and now I cry in the middle of the night for the same damn thing_

She listened to the background music drop down to nearly nothing, and then sang the last chorus alone.

_Because of you I never stray too far from the sidewalk  
because of you I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt  
because of you I find it hard to trust  
not only me, but everyone around me  
because of you  
I am afraid  
because of you  
because of you_

Tears were streaming down her cheeks. That song was harder to sing than she thought it would be. She looked out into the audience, and saw Ziva in the third row. Next to her was…was that Abby? And Agent Gibbs, DiNozzo, and McGee. Doctor Mallard was next to them. The five of them stood up, followed by someone a few rows back, and eventually the whole auditorium. She looked back at Ziva and mouthed "Thank you." Backstage, she saw the new message light on her cell phone was blinking. She flipped it open, and the screen said "New message from Ziva". She read the three-word message.

_Anything for family._

**A/n I decided to combine chapters 4 and 5, because they were sooooo short…anyway, the next installment in this series is a crossover with NCIS: Los Angeles. Kensi and Ziva are kidnapped…you're gonna have to read it to find out what happens next!**_  
_


End file.
